I have never understood why yellow bass cannot be used as bait. There is no minimum length and no daily bag. In many areas of North Texas they are not a native fish, but rather a result of inter-basin pipeline transfers. I hear they are good to eat but they are too small to get any useful meat off of them. I also suspect there would be more than enough left for those who have want to eat them if the bait prohition was lifted. Anyone have have knowledge or theories?

I am well aware of their classification as game fish and everyone. My question is why?

The lake fork fishermen didn't like how well they caught big bass when used as live bait! So they made some contacts and got them classified as game fish so nobody could use them for bait. Story I heard anyways.

I have gone fishing specifically for them and cleaned a few in my time. One morning on Fork, 3 of us in 4 hours Kept and cleaned 312 of the little devils. And they taste great.
D

I could never clean 312 fish.

Interesting theory...it makes sense.

Thats because you could never catch 312 fish

well, it's not like you fillet the little bastards. You scale 'em, gut 'em, and cook 'em whole. At least...I hope nobody is filleting them, lol

Probably not, but I do have photos that of me holding up big fish that were taking in the post digital camera period.

Mine was so long ago I was lucky cameras were even invented
But the record still stands :-)
D

Probably similar to Talapia in that you are still suppossed to gut them before removing them from a lake so as not to introduce them into other state rivers and lakes because they are classified as invasive species.
Well, Texas Parks and Wildlife needs to rethink that law because they are everywhere now.
It's just a matter of time we'll have the Asian carp, Snakeheads, and of course the Zebra mussels in the near future.

The yellow bass is not an invasive species to Texas, but it is to North Texas. I personally think TPWD could kill two birds with one stone by stocking blue catfish in Lake Arlington. A healthy blue population would put a dent into pesky yellow bass and would also help them meet their goal of enhancing urban Fisheries.

I have to agree, they should be allowed to be used as bait. Everything eats them: Blue, Channel, Flathead cats, Stripers, Hybrids, even white bass, Drum, LMB, gar. I hope there isn't any truth to the fork bass anglers being behind this.

A few years back the LMB were all complaining about the sizable white bass population:

http://texasfishingforum.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/topics/6452428/White_Bass_on_Lake_Fork

I personally cannot comprehend why they would be complaining about a tasty game fish such as white bass.

you can't use them for bait, but you can fight them for an hour or so,..just what I been told.